Tenuous Tendrils

Jeremiah Joshua Connelly is about to retire from his academic position at the University of British Columbia. He anticipates a small, ordinary affair of conventional speeches, farewell dinners, and the usual parting gifts and well wishes. Instead, his past visits him in unexpected ways. He not only confronts people from the mists of a distant era he thought long lost but accepts some truths about himself. Over the next week, Josh Connelly comes to terms with who he really is, with a past he tried to escape, and with the people he had run away from for so long.

This work takes us deep into the scars left by a war that tore the United States apart in the 1960s and which left an indelible mark on many who lived through that turbulent time. While a work of fiction, the novel touches upon the real emotions and struggles that many young people endured during this conflicted period. It explores the inner struggles with which they contended as they fought to make sense out of competing claims upon their loyalty. This was a time where easy answers were not available, where each young man and woman who cared about this country had to arrive at their own interpretation of events. Each had to decide where they stood and for what principles they would stand. Each had to articulate their own moral compass.    

 

Tenuous Tendrils is the story of one such young man as he journeys from exile and isolation to reconnect and embrace a life he thought long lost. 

 

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AUTHOR BIO:

Tom Corbett is emeritus Senior Scientist and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he served as Associate and Acting Director for a decade before his retirement. He received a Doctorate in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin and taught various social policy and program evaluation courses there for many years. During his long academic and policy career, he worked with governments at all levels including a stint in Washington D.C. where he helped develop President Clinton’s welfare reform legislation. He has written dozens of articles and reports on poverty, social policy, and human services issues and given hundreds of talks across the nation on these topics. In addition, Dr. Corbett has consulted with numerous local, state, and federal officials on various poverty, welfare, and human services issues both in the United States and Canada. Among many other things, he has testified before Congress, worked with the Wisconsin Legislature on important legislation, and served on an expert panel for the National Academy of Sciences. His most recent works include The Boat Captain’s Conundrum, Browsing through My Candy Store, Ouch, Now I remember, and The Other Side of the World. Now retired, the author lives with his wife of 45 years, Mary Rider, and their lovable Shih Tzu dog, Rascal, in Madison Wisconsin.

 

Connect with the author on his website